Overlooking the Toronto skyline from backstage at the Molson Amphitheater, Manchester Orchestra’s rhythm-guitarist and singer-songerwriter Andy Hull took in a drag and the scene.
“It’s pretty awesome to wake up in the city that you grew up in,” confessed Hull, moments before opening for My Chemical Romance and Blink-182 as part of the 2011 Honda Civic Tour. It would almost seem that, other than sharing a stage, lyrical honesty and vulnerability is about all that these three bands have in common.
“It’s fun man, they’re all really kind people,” says Hull about being on the road with MCR and Blink. It’s been a sleepless summer for Hull and company, leaping between a plethora of festivals from Montreal’s Osheaga to Chicago’s Lollapalooza. “It’s been quite an experience to play these venues. It’s definitely this casting vision tour to really see how big a band can get. It’s kind of crazy. And [Blink-182] is definitely a band that represented a huge part of our childhood.”
The late Heath Ledger is probably best known for his talents on-screen. Now his off-screen talents will also be showcased with the upcoming release of two music videos directed by the actor before his death last year.
The first is a video for the Modest Mouse’s “King Rat,” a bonus track from the band’s most recent album, “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.”
Singer Isaac Brock revealed to VH1 in 2007 that the collaboration came about after he met Ledger through a mutual friend during a trip to Australia.
Everyone’s favourite band from Issaquah, WA will soon be returning with a new theme of nautical doom.
On December 19, Modest Mouse will release “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank,” their first album since breaking into the mainstream with 2004′s “Good News for People Who Love Bad News.”
According to Nielsen SoundScan, that record has now sold 1.5 million copies in the U.S. alone, while the band’s other (and better) records sit with a combined sales of approximately nothing near that number.
As andPOP previously reported, this new record also features a new member for the band. Former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr signed on as an official member of Modest Mouse after working on the album, and will tour with the band when they head out to support the record.
Johnny Marr, best known as the guitarist for The Smiths, is officially a full-blown member of Modest Mouse.
Rolling Stone reports that Marr and Modest Mouse front-man Isaac Brock hit it off after partnering to work on songs for the band’s next album.
“He made a cautious commitment to write and record with us, and then the tighter we got, he was like, ‘okay, let’s tour too,’” said Brock of the band’s newest addition. “Then he was pretty much a member of the band – not pretty much. He’s a full blown member of the band. It’s really fuckin’ nice.”
The new Modest Mouse album was recorded in Mississippi at Sweet Tea studios, just like 2004′s “Good News for People Who Love Bad News.”
The tentative title for the new LP is “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.” No release date has been set.
